Al-Tabari

“ The commander of the believers has written to al-Mubârik aṭ-Ṭabari, his freedman, ordering him to give Fadak back to the heirs of Fâṭimah, the Prophet's daughter, with all its boundaries and the rights attached to it, and including its slaves and products and other things, all to be delivered to Muḥammad ibn-Yaḥya ibn-al-Ḥusain ibn-Zaid ibn-ʿAli ibn-al-Ḥusain ibn-ʿAli ibn-abi-Ṭalib and to Muḥammad ibn-ʿAbdallâh ibn-al-Ḥasan ibn-ʿAli ibn-al-Ḥusain ibn-ʿAli ibn-abi-Ṭâlib, both of whom the commander of the believers has put in charge of the land in behalf of its owners. ”

“ Shabba (d. 262) , who composed an excellent history of Basra, known to us only by excerpts. Of the works of Zobair b. Bakkár (d. 256) , one of Ṭabarí's teachers, a learned historian and genealogist much consulted by later writers, there is a fragment in the Köprülü library at Constantinople, and another in Göttingen, part of which has been made known by Wüstenfeld (Die Familie Al-Zobair, Göttingen, 1878) . Ya'ḳúbí or Ibn Wáḍiḥ wrote a short general history of much value, published by Houtsma (Leyden, 1883) . ”

“ Tabari, mainly occupied with theological tradition, was no man of original research or of historical acumen even in the sense applied to a few other Persian scholars in those centuries. His annals are a compilation, a mass of rich material put together with extraordinary industry. He does not work into unity the various versions in his divergent sources, but simply brings them up in order one after another. But it is just this circumstance which considerably enhances in our eyes the value of the work ”

“ The principal value of Tabari's compilation consists in the extremely exhaustive presentation of the history of Islam from the first appearance of the Prophet; no other Arabic work in this respect can compare with his. ”

“ Already, in the interval between the conclusion of the general truce and of the fifty years’ peace, he had, as it seems, invaded the territories of the Ephthalites, and, with the help of the Great Khan of the Turks, inflicted upon this people, so long one of Persia’s most formidable enemies, a severe defeat. According to Tabari, he actually slew the Ephthalite monarch, ravaged his territory, and pillaged his treasures. About the same time he had also had a war with the Khazars, had overrun their country, wasted it with fire and sword, and massacred thousands of the inhabitants. ”

“ The small book which Hamza Ispahani wrote in 961, contains in brief much independent information on the Sasanides. Hamza treats his materials in a spirit of much more freedom and independence than Tabari, but to us the compiling process of Tabari is far more convenient.
[Sidenote: Masudi.]
Masudi in his "Meadows of Gold" affords us many a supplement to Tabari's narratives derived from reliable Persian sources. But Masudi works very unequally, accepts a good deal that is suspicious provided only it is entertaining, and as regards detail he is by no means over exact. ”

“ A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action.
We reached Tabor safely, and considerably in advance of that old iron-clad swindle of a guard. We never saw a human being on the whole route, much less lawless hordes of Bedouins. Tabor stands solitary and alone, a giant sentinel above the Plain of Esdraelon. It rises some fourteen hundred feet above the surrounding level, a green, wooden cone, symmetrical and full of grace—a prominent landmark, and one that is exceedingly pleasant to eyes surfeited with the repulsive monotony of desert Syria. ”

“ I can find no authority on the subject, but am told by those versed in the law that the only exception is that of women with child in which event cohabitation would be unlawful till after delivery. In all other cases, in conformity with the precedent of the Prophet’s marriage with Safia at Kheibar, the captives, whether maid or matron, are lawful to the captors’ embrace upon the spot (Life of Mahomet, p. 391) .
[115] Tabari tells us that every month it was the turn of a new prince to rule as minister, and this was Bahmân’s month. ”

“ The great book exists complete in the viceregal library at Cairo, and ought to be published at once. [6]
The Annals are a general history from the creation to 302 a.h., and are in the course of publication at Leyden. They will fill some 7000 to 7500 pages, one and a half printed pages corresponding roughly to one leaf of Ṭabarí's original MS. Ṭabarí added a supplement about his authorities, an abridgment of which is to follow the Leyden edition. It contains biographical notices of traditionalists, contemporaries of Mohammed, and their successors to the second half of the 2d century. ”

“ According to Tabari, Huschenk was the son of Kaïumarth, who was the son of Mahalaleel. He was the first man to cut down trees and to make boards, and fashion them into doors to close the entrance to houses. He also discovered many precious stones, such as the topaz and the jacinth. He reigned four hundred years. [7]
He was succeeded by Tahmourath, who taught men to saddle and bridle horses; he was also the first man to write in Persian characters; he figures as a great hero in Iranian fable. According to the story in Persia, he was carried by the Simorg to the mountain of Kaf. ”

“ Ṭabarí and his contemporaries, senior and junior, such as Ibn Ḳotaiba, Ya'ḳúbí, Dínawarí, preserve to us a good part of the information about Persian history made known through such translations. [4] But even more important than the knowledge conveyed by these works was their influence on literary style and composition. Half a century later began versions from the Greek either direct or through the Syriac. The pieces translated were mostly philosophical ; but the Arabs also learned something, however superficially, of ancient history.
The 3d century was far more productive than the 2d. ”

“ According to Tabari, his words were: “Saura disobeyed me; I ordered him to keep near the river, but he did not do so” (loc. cit. p. 1544) . Beladhori also, in his very brief account of this campaign, makes no mention of defeat or even disaster. He merely says that Junayd fought the Turks till he had utterly repulsed them, and then asked the Caliph for reinforcements. The account in the Persian Tabari is roughly as follows:—Junayd’s first brush with the Turks was successful; but their Khākān was not discouraged by his reverse. ”

“ With regard to the history of Irak in particular he was deemed to have the best information, and for this subject he is Tabari’s chief source, just as Madāinī, a younger contemporary of Wāqidī, is followed by preference in all that relates to Khorasan. Madāinī’s History of the Caliphs is the best, if not the oldest, published before Ṭabarī; but this book is known only by the excerpts given by later writers, particularly Balādhuri and Ṭabarī. From these we judge that he had great narrative power, with much clear and exact learning, and must be placed high as a critical historian. ”

“ The original work has been reflected to us in Tabari and other Arabs as well as Firdausi through a series of intermediate texts. To judge by the express statements and suggestions as also by various features in style and phraseology and further by all that we are aware of touching the circumstances of the literature we can say with certainty that, that original work like all other Persian narrative productions of the Sasanides and of the period of Arab conquest was composed in the written, language of this period, the Pahlavi. ”

“ Burton, Speke, and Grant years ago had visited it, and described it, came the Arab magnates from Tabora to congratulate me.
Tabora* is the principal Arab settlement in Central Africa. It contains over a thousand huts and tembes, and one may safely estimate the population, Arabs, Wangwana, and natives, at five thousand people. Between Tabora and the next settlement, Kwihara, rise two rugged hill ridges, separated from each other by a low saddle, over the top of which Tabora is always visible from Kwihara. ”

“ Nevertheless the value of the book is very great: the author's selection of traditions is usually happy, and the episodes of most importance are treated with most fulness of detail, so that it deserves the high reputation it has enjoyed from the first. This reputation rose steadily; there were twenty copies (one of them written by Ṭabarí's own hand) in the library of the Fátimite caliph 'Aziz (latter half of the 4th century) , whereas, when Saladin became lord of Egypt, the princely library contained 1200 copies (Maḳrízí, i. 408 sq.) ”

“ The story is not to be found in any of these biographies, nor in the canonical collections of Bokhari, Muslim, and Tirmizee. Sir W. Muir had himself laid down the rule that only these original authorities are to be depended upon, and the later authors are to be rejected. He writes:—
"To the three biographies by Ibn Hishám, by Wackidi his secretary, and Tabari, the judicious historian of Mahomet will, as his original authorities, confine himself. ”

“ To employ the soldiers, whom idleness always seduced into license, it was determined to make an attack upon Mount Tabor, where the Mussulmans had fortified themselves.
Mount Tabor, so celebrated in the Old and New Testament, arises like a superb dome amidst the vast plain of Galilee. The declivity of the mountain is covered with flowers and odoriferous plants; from the summit of Tabor, which forms a level of a league in extent, may be seen, travellers say, all the banks of the Jordan, the Lake of Tiberias, the Sea of Syria, and most of the places in which Christ performed his miracles. ”

“ From the top of Tabor you have a prospect which, if nothing else, well rewards the labour of ascending it. It is impossible for man's eyes to behold a higher gratification of this nature. On the north-west, you discern at a distance the Mediterranean; and all around you have the spacious and beautiful plains of Esdraelon and Galilee, which present you with the view of so many places memorable for the resort and miracles of the Son of God. At the bottom of Tabor westward stands Daberah, a small village, supposed by some to take its name from Deborah, that famous judge and deliverer of Israel. ”

“ It is related from Ibn ʿAbbás that, 'The people of Yemen were performing the pilgrimage, but had not provided themselves with food for the journey, and they said, "We put our trust (in God) ." Then when they reached Mecca, they begged of the people. Then God sent down the revelation, "Provide yourselves with necessary food; and verily the best of food is piety."'—Al Bukhárí.
It is related from ʿÁyesha that she said, 'I said, " O Apostle of God, is religious war incumbent upon women?" He replied, "Yes, religious war is incumbent upon them in that in which there is no fighting. ”

“ Al-Tarabalusi (b. 1080) , a younger contemporary. But the most famous poet of all was Al-Hariri (1054-1122) , whose “Assemblies” throw so much light on the manners and morals of this period. Among the men at the Nizamiyya University were Al-Khatîb (b. 1030) , the great philologist; and Ibn Al-Arabi, born at Seville in 1076, who visited Bagdad to attend the teaching of Al-Ghazali. The greatest of all the Shafiʾite doctors, Al-Ruyani, was also a contemporary of Al-Ghazali. He taught at Nishapur and wrote the most voluminous book on jurisprudence in existence, called “The Sea of Doctrine.” ”

“ It was an eloquent, sharp, ugly, earthly countenance. His hands were small and prehensile, with fingers knotted like a cord; and they were continually flickering in front of him in violent and expressive pantomime. As for Tabary, a broad, complacent, admiring imbecility breathed from his squash nose and slobbering lips: he had become a thief, just as he might have become the most decent of burgesses, by the imperious chance that rules the lives of human geese and human donkeys.
At the monk’s other hand, Montigny and Thevenin Pensete played a game of chance. ”

“ The simplicity of the Arab character is shown in the way in which the young noble was brought up. Abu Taleb initiated him in the science of war and the mysteries of commerce. He managed his horse and sword like an accomplished cavalier, and followed the caravan as a merchant through the desert. Gifted with a high poetical temperament, and soaring above the grovelling superstitions of the people surrounding him, he used to retire to meditate on the great questions of man’s relation to his Maker, which the inquiring mind can never avoid. ”

“ Mohammed Ali's vigorous policy, and such the effects of even semi-civilisation, when its influence is brought to bear direct upon barbarism.
To conclude this subject, the Tawarah still retain many characteristics of the Badawi race. The most good-humoured and sociable of men, they delight in a jest, and may readily be managed by kindness and courtesy. Yet they are passionate, nice upon points of honour, revengeful, and easily offended, where their peculiar prejudices are misunderstood. ”

“ The story of Persia from the first mythical Kings to the last of the Sasanides exhibits in Tabari, as in allied Arabic works, a certain similarity of conception and presentation which leads to the assumption of an indigenous original work at least respecting a very large portion. Now the Shahnameh of the great poet Firdausi, a national epic of the kind which no other people possess, while it on one hand, apart from the poetic license indulged in by Firdausi, contains much that is either not found at all or is essentially differently related in Arab writers ”

“ Still, the kingdom made no sign of organized opposition to him, except that the provident Ziska and his followers, seeing the wrath to come, diligently set to work to fortify Mount Tabor. Strong by nature, it soon was made virtually impregnable, and for a generation it remained the stronghold of the extremists who became renowned throughout the world as Taborites. Mostly peasant-folk, they showed to the chivalry of Europe what could be done by freemen, animated by religious zeal and race hatred; their rustic wagons made a rampart which the most valiant knights learned not to assail ”